Merrick Anthony James-Lewis (born 21 May 1992) is an English semi-professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffol ...

Division One South club

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originall ...

as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He has also played for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team of ...

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated popu ...

Carshalton Athletic Carshalton Athletic Football Club is an English football club based in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. They currently play in the and are based at the War Memorial Sports Ground. The club also field a women's team playing in the Lo ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, Concord Rangers,

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ( ...

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 from ...

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a rail ...

, Walton & Hersham, Crawley Down Gatwick,

Cray Wanderers Cray Wanderers Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Sidcup, London. Based on later reports, the club has a claim to have been established some time in 1860 in the twin villages of St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cray, ...

Staines Town Staines Town Football Club was a semi-professional football club based in Staines-upon-Thames, Middlesex. History Early days Staines Town FC was founded in 1892 and was known under various names including ''Staines F.C.'',''Staines Albany F ...

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former So ...

, Maldon & Tiptree,

Tooting & Mitcham United Tooting & Mitcham United Football Club is an association football club based in the London Borough of Merton. They are currently members of the and play at Imperial Fields in Morden. Their nickname is "the Terrors" or "the Stripes". History ...

Heybridge Swifts Heybridge Swifts Football Club is a football club based in Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Scraley Road. History The club was established in 1880 as Heybridge Football Club. After joining ...

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 25 miles south of Charing Cross and 2 miles south of the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Mers ...

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield ...

, Uckfield Town,

Thamesmead Town Thamesmead Town Football Club was a football club originally based in Thamesmead in south-east London before moving to Dartford in 2017. They joined the Kent League in 1991 and reached the 5th round of the FA Vase in the 1995–96 season. In th ...

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

and

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local government ...

Career

Southend United

James-Lewis came through

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, signing a professional contract with the club in August 2010, having previously been with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

. He joined

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the ...

club

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

in March 2011, for the remainder of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season. The following season, he went out on loan to Braintree Town again in August, having been promoted to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

. He was recalled on 19 September, due to a lack of first-team opportunities, having made just four appearances. James-Lewis made his professional début for Southend on 24 September 2011, coming on as a substitute for

Ryan Leonard Ryan Ian Leonard (born 24 May 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Millwall. A midfielder, he graduated through the Plymouth Argyle Academy to make his senior debut in March 2010, following whic ...

in the 79th minute in their 4–0 away win at

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around ...

. On 16 March 2012, it was announced that James-Lewis would join

on a month's loan. On 18 May, James-Lewis was one of eleven players to be released at the end of their contract.

Colchester United

After his release, he went on trial with Southend's rivals

, playing in a pre-season friendly against

. Following a successful trial with the club he was given an initial deal on 30 July 2012. Having made A handful of appearances for the U's, James-Lewis was released by Colchester following the expiration of his contract.

Non-League

2013 onwards

In February 2013 James-Lewis was signed by

, after being on the books of island neighbours Concord Rangers. He made just one appearance for The Gulls, away to Lowestoft Town. On 2 April 2013, he signed for

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

side

on a short-term contract until the end of the season. He was featured on the bench for the club's 1–1 draw with Barrow on 4 April.

manager Spencer Day snapped him up prior to the 2013–14 season, following a successful summer trial alongside

Tyrone Berry Tyrone Michael Berry (born 20 February 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Three Bridges. He has previously appeared for the likes of Notts County, York City and Forest Green Rovers in his career. Early life Born in B ...

. They were both released following a disappointing

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

defeat to Eastbourne Borough on 1 October 2013. The following month he was added to Walton & Hersham caretaker boss James Cameron's squad, before switching to Crawley Down Gatwick in January 2014 and

in February 2014. Ahead of the

2014–15 Football Conference The 2014–15 Football Conference season is the eleventh season with the Football Conference consisting of three divisions and the thirty-fifth season overall. The Conference covers the top two levels of non-League football in England. The Conferen ...

season he was handed a chance at

by manager

Marcus Gayle Marcus Anthony Gayle (born 27 September 1970) is a football coach and former professional player who serves as club ambassador at Brentford. Gayle's primary position was as a striker but also played as a winger and central defender towards ...

, In early October after 11 games he was gone, being questioned his commitment on both match days and training ground by Gayle. By the summer he had put pen to paper at Walton Casuals in October 2014,

in December 2014, and Walton Casuals again in January 2015. 2015–16 proved to be yet another much-travelled season, starting off at Maldon & Tiptree in June. Shortly after the season kicked off, he featured for

on 22 August 2015, and in October he switched to

. He played only once for The Swifts, in a 3–1 win at Bury Town. Further moves include

in October 2015, and returns to Canvey Island in January 2016 and Farnborough in March 2016.

2016 onwards

He signed for AFC Uckfield Town in October 2016, after leaving

without making any competitive appearances. In November 2016 he moved to

, and

in December 2016. He reportedly returned to

in February 2017, but never featured in a matchday squad list before returning to Walton Casuals for a third spell on deadline day. Despite committing to the club for the 2017–18 season, he failed to make an appearance for the club and joined

in October. The spell with The Bay also was short-lived as he only made one appearance. The season opening round of 2018–19 saw him return to Thamesmead Town. Following the club going into creditors voluntary administration in October 2018, he signed for

Egham Town Egham Town Football Club is a football club based in Egham, Surrey, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Runnymede Stadium. History The club was originally formed as Runnymede Rovers in 1877, before reforming as Egham i ...

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

South Central Division in November. In September 2020, James-Lewis joined

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...

, where he made five appearances in the Isthmian League Premier Division before, in October, moving on to South Park, making three league appearances and scoring one goal, on his debut, in a 4–4 draw with

. In July 2021, he joined Haywards Heath Town, but did not play for the club; he moved on in October to Sutton Common Rovers, then again in November to East Grinstead Town, where he scored once in fourteen league appearances in the Isthmian League Division One South East. In November 2022, he joined

Corinthian-Casuals Corinthian-Casuals Football Club is a football club based in Tolworth in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, England. Affiliated to the London Football Association, they are currently members of the and play at King George's Field. His ...

, where he made two league appearances and one in the Surrey Senior Cup. Later that season he moved to

of east London.

References

External links

Southend United profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:James-Lewis, Merrick 1992 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Lambeth English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Fulham F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Carshalton Athletic F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players Crawley Down Gatwick F.C. players Canvey Island F.C. players Cray Wanderers F.C. players Staines Town F.C. players Walton Casuals F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Maldon & Tiptree F.C. players Heybridge Swifts F.C. players Merstham F.C. players Enfield Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players